Alice Starling And the Beast of Ilvermorny
by DrZevil
Summary: Alice Starling thought she was normal, like the rest of her family, but when the Man in the Hat shows up she's in for a surprise: she's a witch and has been accepted into Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. But just like the Boy who lived, Alice will have her own trials to deal with at school.
1. Prologue

Salutations and bienvenue! To those in this fandom, welcome to my insanity! To those that are following me from my other stories… this story is going to be the opposite of my usual work.

Disclaimer: Ilvermorny, M.A.C.U.S.A., the whole of the wizarding world, and every character in it belongs to J.K. Rowling, not me.

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Prologue

Atop the highest peak of mount Greylock, hidden behind enchanted mists, stood an impossible sight: a medieval granite castle. But this isn't your average impossible castle, no this impossible castle is an impossible school… what? You've heard of another impossible hidden school? Oh, you must mean that one in Scotland! That's not the one I'm talking about, no I'm talking about the one in America!

That impossible school is Ilvermorny; Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in (point of) fact. For many years this school has stood against the test of time, dark practitioners, bigotry, and has trained the next generation of American witches and wizards for three hundred and ninety-seven years.

It was the next generation that was on the mind of Professor Agilbert Fontaine, Headmaster of Ilvermorny, as he sat at his desk looking over the letters that were about to go out to a new batch of first years. Fontaine was a thin dark-skinned man, coarse white hair on his head, a trim white beard, bright green eyes, and a multitude of wrinkles that, in conjunction with his white hair, bellied his age.

Most of the letters were already in their envelopes and to be owled out, except for the stack of letters that were right in front of him, the No-Maj-born (magical children whose parents have no magic) letters, which required a more personal touch then the other letters. "William." He called out in a, despite his age of ninety-seven, strong New Orleans accented voice. At his words an elderly humanoid figure appeared out of thin air with a small pop. He had grey skin, was small in stature, four feet tall, with an elongated nose, ears, and fingers.

"Whadaya want Fontaine?" said the old creature "You know me, and the others are busy getting the castle ready for the brats." Fontaine only smiled at the old Pukwudgie, not taking offence in the slightest. "I know William, and I'm very grateful fo yo work, but I need to speak with Hue and Sylas. Would you please get them fo me, it's about the remainin' No-Maj-Born letters? I believe they should be on campus."

The old Pukwudgie glared up at the headmaster for a few moments before grumbling under his breath and popping away. The headmaster looked back down at the small stack of No-Maj-born letters, five out of nine left and sighed thinking to himself _'Dere always seems to be fewer and fewer No-Maj-borns every year. I hope it's just nature deciding this and not some outside force at work.'_

Images of the past flashed through the headmaster's mind: a banner with a set of hands breaking a wand, a glowing green skull with a snake coming out of its mouth in the sky, a mass of black smoke like substance lashing out, and a line through a circle enclosed in a triangle etched into a brick wall. He shuddered at the significance of each one. He shook his head violently, _'No! Voldemort and Grindlevald are dead and buried, their fallowers are either dead or in prison. The Scouiers have been dormant for years, and as fo an Obscurial-'_

He would have continued along this train of thought, but with a small pop, William appeared with a scruffy looking middle-aged man with salt and pepper hair, dressed in white healers' robes, No-Maj running shoes, and was leaning heavily on an old and gnarled cane with the image of Pukwudgie house carved in the center of it. "Thanks for the ride stumpy." Said the man as he limped to one of the chairs in front of the headmaster's desk.

Fontaine frowned at the man before looking to the grumbling Pukwudgie with a kind smile on his face. "Tank you, William." The Pukwudgie grumbled something that sounded like 'stupid bum legged human' and popped away. The headmaster looked back to the man in front of him "You should really be nicer to dem Hue, dey are the namesake of yo house after all." Said the headmaster to Hue Homes, school doctor, deputy head master, and head of house Pukwudgie.

"Doesn't matter if I'm nice to the little snots," he said in his usual gruff and deadpan manner, "They're going to treat me the same way they treat everyone else: badly."

Fontaine rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Yes, but if you treated dem better they might stop hiding yo cane whenever you take yo eyes off it for more than five seconds."

Healer Homes seemed to think that over for a bit before shaking his head and frowning. "Nah! Besides, jokes on them, I'm getting much better at wandlessly summoning it back to me." He looked down at the letters on the head masters desk, "That the last of the letters? So, we waiting on the limey, the cowboy, or the runt of the litter?"

Before he can answer, Fontaine was interrupted by a small pop. William appeared yet again, this time with a tall man with brown hair, a handle bar mustache with a long connecting goatee, dressed in a purple vest with brass buttons and green trim, a white long sleeve button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up, black pants, boots, and tie, and a black fedora with a purple band around it. He also wore a black leather apron and had a vile of something green in his hand, poised to be poured into something. He looked slightly startled to be in a completely different place then he was earlier. "The runt it is then." Said Homes with a role of his eyes.

"Sylas," said Fontaine in a friendly tone, "good to see you my young friend, I hope we didn't take you away from somethin' important?" Sylas M. Zax, Transfiguration teacher and head of Horned Serpent house was about to answer but was stopped by the sound of a low boom that seemed to come from somewhere in the castle, more likely than not, Professor Zax's office and lab. "…No head master, you didn't." He said in a slightly pained voice, corking the vile, putting it away in his vest pocket, and pulling out his wand from the same pocket.

"Do we want to know what that was, newbie?" asked Homes, as Sylas waved his wand over his apron, transfiguring it into black suit jacket robes with deep red trim and a bright red interior.

"Nothing, well, nothing anymore." He answered as he took the other chair in front of the headmaster's desk. "I was working on a levitation potion to fuel Rosemarie in combination with the levitation charm I already placed on her chassis, but wouldn't interfere with the rune pattern or the invisibility booster or the extension charms I have on the-"

"Is there anything else you need of me, oh wise and venerable headmaster?" William asked, sarcasm dripping from his voice at the second half of his question.

"No, tank you William, that will be all." Said Fontaine, a sympathetic and grateful smile on his face.

"Good." Said William, "Cause apparently I got an explosion to clean up in the Horned Serpent wing." He gave Zax the stink eye, "Again." This caused the younger man to wince as he slipped his wand into his sleeve. With a final glare at the three wizards, the old Pukwudgie disappeared with a pop.

Homes grimaced at the spot where the Pukwudgie had just been, "The old man's been crotchety lately." Turning back to Fontane and Zax, and seeing their skeptical expressions, he added "More than usual I mean." A rarely seen concern came flashed on his face as he said, "You think it's because of all the quakes we've been having lately?" The head master brows furrowed in thought.

"Could be, the earth quakes are a concern and a mystery. There has never been an earth quake here at mount Greylock, not before or after the settlers came to the new world and certainly not before or after Isolt Sayre, James Steward, and the Boot Boys founded Ilvermorny." Said Fontaine, a crease in his brow.

"So why are there earth quakes now?" asked Zax, his curiosity peaked. "Has something changed about the land since the founders built the school? Could it be a curse set on the mountain before the founding that was on a kind of timer or degraded to catastrophic effect?"

The head master realizes that the discussion has come back to his earlier thought: "I hope it's just nature deciding this and not some outside force at work." He said in a quiet voice.

Something flashed in Zax's eyes, but it went unnoticed by his elder professors as the head master shook his head. "As much as dat is a concern, we should get to the task at hand." Fontaine picked up the stack of five letters and placed them horizontally on his desk. "Dese are the last of the No-Maj-born letters, I have already given the other letters to the heads of Thunderbird and Wampus, I just need the two of you to decide who gets three letters and who gets two." Homes turned to Zax, fist on his open palm.

Zax looked slightly affronted, "Seriously? You're really going to try and get out of what amounts to charity work?" Homes, face deadpan, patted his open palm with his fist three times in answer. "Fine, lazy bones." Zax said in exasperation as he got his hands ready. They patted their hands three times in sync, then their hands formed the necessary symbols: Homes making a three-pronged claw, Zax with his hand open with the fingers splayed.

"Damn." said Homes, snatching his hand away as if it was burned.

Zax smiled in triumph, "Phoenix tears beats basilisk venom. I win." Zax looked at the five letters on the headmaster's desk. He closed his eyes and hovered his hand over the letters, but before he can pick even one, Homes quickly took three of the letters off the headmaster's desk.

"A Mr. Juan Zamora in the third bedroom at 564 Sanchez Lane Mexico City Mexico, Mr. Casey Johnson in the second-floor bedroom at 208 Jackson Boulevard Chandler Arizona, and a Ms. Sonia Wong in the smallest room at apt 48 Regan Avenue Boston Massachusetts" He read to the headmaster, who was giving him a disapproving frown at his antics.

Eyes now opened, Zax sighed in exasperation before picking up the last two of the letters. "A Mr. Ricardo Gomez in the third room at apt 10 Rio Grande Boulevard San Antonio Texas, and a Ms. Alice Starling in the fourth room on the left side at 13 Elm Street Durant Oklahoma."

"Good." said the head master as he took out and waved his wand at the letters, causing them to fly out of the professor's hands and into five unsealed envelopes. The head master then pointed his wand at a lit red wax candle, gathering melted wax into five small balls, then dropping them onto the closed envelope, and pressed each with his signet ring, leaving the schools seal.

That finished, Fontaine retuned the letters to Zax and Homes. "See that they are delivered to the children, educate the families of our existence and the Statute of Secrecy, and set up an appointment to take them to get their supplies. I know dat I can count on you two to get the job done."

 **Alice Starling**

 **And the Beast of Ilvermorny**

 **By DrZevil**

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AN: And there it is, short but hopefully you all liked what you read, but rest assured there will be more. If some of you have read my other stories, The Spider-Overlord and Breaking Point, then you know this is a major deviation from my usual work. If you've read Star Trek: Endeavor then it's not that different, morally if not genre-y.

When J.K. Roweling came out with her writings about Ilvermorny, I was inspired and felt that I need to write something. Plus, contrary to what I have written in my other stories, I need a little light every now and then. That said, this series (yes series, I'm going to try a little harder to get a story finished in less then a century) will have its dark moments as our intrepid heroine and her own band of friends grow into adulthood.

Normally this would be the part of where I would do my shtick about 'bidding you adieu', but after I post this, I'm going to be posting chapter one. So, lucky you! You get two chapters for the price of one!


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Ilvermorny, M.A.C.U.S.A., the whole of the wizarding world, and every character in it belongs to J.K. Rowling, not me. If I did own it, Harry Potter would have been sorted into Slytherin and would have ended up with Hermione.

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 **Alice Starling and the beast of Ilvermorny**

 **By Dr. Zevil**

 **Chapter 1**

 **Tap Dancing Frogs and The Man in The Hat**

Alice Starling was in a library, that's how she knew it was a dream. She loved to read, even when she was in the arms of Morpheus, except in her dreams she can open a book and be a part of that world. She could solve mysteries with Nancy Drew and Sherlock Holmes, sail the seven seas with Long John Silver, sword fight with the three musketeers, or learn magic from Merlin himself. Those, the stories and dreams about magic, were her favorite.

In those dreams she could make anything she wanted to appear or come alive, control the weather, turn herself into an animal, or even fly. And they weren't always adventure stories, sometimes she was in a new and odd place, where she would do magic or relive fond memories. Sure, she loved fighting dragons with King Arthur to save her Prince charming or solve a mystery with Hercule Poirot, but sometimes she just wants to relive the time she made Christmas cookies with her grandma Daisy.

She thought that would be a nice kind of dream for tonight and was reaching for one such book when she felt the ground began to shake. _'That's weird.'_ Thought Alice, _'My dreams usually wait for me to actually touch one of the books before starting my dream.'_ She looked around her to see if the dream was starting, but all she saw was the library in her mind. Suddenly there was a flash of green and a what sounded like a mad woman cackling, followed by a whole host of odd noises.

There was a rustling somewhere in the stacks followed by a hissing noise like a snake. Then she heard what sounded like a growl from something like a lion. The next moment she heard the pitter patter of feet followed by angry whispers in a language she couldn't understand. Suddenly there was a large gust of wind, a crack of thunder and what sounded like the call of a very big bird, and it started raining in her library.

Buckets of rain was falling on her, making it hard for her to see, she tried to shield her eyes, so she could see the shelf in front of her, thinking if she got to one of her books she could take herself somewhere, anywhere, that wasn't experiencing a hurricane. There was another crack of thunder and she saw the book case, the very tall book case, begin to tilt and fall towards her. As the book case came crashing down, Alice raised her arms in a feeble attempt to protect herself and then there was this huge thing that slithered around her, seeming to try and protect her. She opened her mouth to scream and–

"HEY! Alice! Rise and shine pipsqueak!" yelled her older brother, Ben, from the other side of her bedroom door, waking her just in time to avoid her dreamy demise. "What the heck was that all about?" she whispered to herself. Was her subconscious trying to tell her something? She remembered from a book on dreams she had read what rain or water might mean and quickly lifted her covers to check, feeling very relieved to not find anything wet in the real world.

Two thumps on the other side of her door snapped her out of her relief. "Come on Alice, moms not going to let me have my breakfast until I've got you up." Ah, there it is, the real reason her brother is waking her up, her mothers' special brand of coercion. Her mother knew how to manipulate all her children to do what she wanted, as an alternative to yelling at them, and in her brothers' case it was his bottomless pit of a stomach.

"I'm up and I'll be down in a minute." She quickly got out of bed and went to dresser to get her the clothes she was going to wear today. She thought of taking a shower, but after her dream, she decided to skip that part of her daily ablutions. She quickly got her clothes, a forest green t-shirt that read 'Books are better than boys' and brown cargo shorts, and made her way into the upstairs bathroom, surprised that one of her brothers or sisters were not hogging the bathroom.

The Starlings were a family of eight; two parents, three boys, and three girls, so the bathroom empty was a rare treat, even if she was going to skip her usual shower. As she finished brushing her teeth, she looked at herself in the mirror. She had long blonde hair, like most of her family, reaching down to the middle of her back and blue eyes with a green ring around her iris. _'I've never had a dream like that in my library before.'_ she thought to herself. ' _And what was with those weird sounds?'_

Shaking her head to snap herself out of her thoughts, she rinsed her mouth out and got dressed for her day. As she reached the top of the stairs, she stopped at the low shelf there and smiled at the picture on it. The picture was of an eight-year-old girl wearing a blue shirt and overalls, she had blonde hair and green eyes. The girl was in a small garden and was smiling at the person taking the picture.

"Morning Laura." Said Alice to the picture of her older sister, Laura, who died in a car crash when she was eight. Her parents don't like to talk about it, but what they would tell her was that a drunk driver had lost control of his car and hit her. They would have hit her other big sister, Anna who was six at the time, but Laura pushed her out of the way.

Alice had never met her sister, her mother was pregnant with her at the time and her other big brother, Malcom, was four so he doesn't remember her, but Anna and Ben say that she was sweet and loved all of them, even her who hadn't been born yet.

She gave the picture a final look and then went down to breakfast. Seated around the oval table in the dining room was her family, sans her mom, Lois, who was in the kitchen making breakfast. Her dad, Richard, was at the head of the table reading his newspaper and drinking his morning coffee.

Richard Starling was seven feet tall, had short blonde hair that was slowly turning silver, a close-cropped beard, green eyes with specks of brown in them, and solidly built. He was the store manager for the local Home depot and would normally be dressed in a suit and tie, but today was his day off so he was dressed in a white t-shirt and jeans.

On his left side was her fourteen-year-old brother Ben, short for Benjamin, focusing on eating his breakfast like he hadn't eaten in days. Ben was tall for his age, about six feet and one inch, had some muscle tone from being on the football team, blue eyes, and had short blond hair. He was dressed in a blue short sleeved under armor shirt and shorts, and fluorescent yellow running shoes.

Next to him was her thirteen-year-old brother Malcom who was reading a comic book, X-men, while eating his breakfast at a more sedate pace. Malcom was a bit scrawny for his age, a foot shorter than his older brother, mop top styled blonde hair, and blue-green eyes. He was dressed in a Green Lantern t-shirt, tan cargo pants, blue converse, and his ever-present wire rimmed glasses.

On her father's right was her eighteen-year-old sister Anna, who was busily taping out a text on her phone and barely touching her food. Anna had shoulder length blonde hair, baby blue nail polish, was six feet tall, had an athletic figure from running with the track team, and had green eyes. She was dressed in a silver girls t-shirt, kaki capri pants, and grey flats.

Next to her was their little brother Milhouse, nicked named Milly, and his twin sister Jillian, nick named Jilly, both talking about the adventure they were going to go on in the back yard today in between bites of their fruit loops.

The twins were average sized, blonde hair, Milly's being cut short while Jilly's reaching to her shoulders and had blue eyes with a ring of brown. Milly was dressed in a blue shirt with the Autobots logo on it, green camo shorts, and blue light up shoes while Jill was dressed in a pink shirt with a unicorn on it, denim shorts, and red light up shoes.

Hearing his daughter walk in, Mr. Starling looked up and smiled at her. "Good morning Alice! Your mothers getting a plate ready for you in the kitchen." He said to her before going back to his paper. She made her way to the kitchen, kissing her father on the cheek before going to her seat, but she stopped by Bens seat and kissed him the cheek as well.

"What was that for?" He asked through a mouth full of bacon and eggs. It wasn't that his sister never showed him affection, but it was rare enough to be weird. It wasn't that they didn't show affection to one another as a family, they were close and loved each other very much, but like with most families, terms of endearment varied.

"From saving me from being crushed by a falling book case that the storm in the library blew over." She said as she sat down at the free seat by Malcom. Her brothers, sisters, and father looked at her in confusion, but then their mother walked in with Alice's plate. Lois Starling was a foot shorter than her husband, long blonde hair in a single braid, blue eyes, laugh lines around her mouth, and had a slim build. She was dressed in a simple red blouse and jeans. Mrs. Starling, or rather Dr. Starling was a child psychiatrist and had also chosen to take the day off to spend with her family.

"King Author or the Hardy Boys?" She asked as she sat down Alice's plate in front of her then taking her seat with her own plate of food, drawing looks of understanding around the table. They all knew about Alice's library, they all (with the exception her parents and Malcom) thought it was weird, but they knew about it and accepted it for what it was: Alice's overactive imagination.

"Actually, it was weird," she said as she poured herself some juice from the jug on the table, "My dreams always start after I get one of my books off the shelf, but my dream started before I even touched one of my books." She shivered at the memory of the dream, "The ground started to shake, then there were these weird noises, and it started to rain, and the book case was about to fall on me…" there was something else about the dream, but the memory was gone. "but then Ben woke me up than everything was okay."

Malcom looked up from the eternal struggle between the X-Men and the worst of humanity and turned to his sister with a slight frown. "Did you say rain? Doesn't that usually mean that you've-"

"Nope!" she said quickly not wanting her brother to say what that meant.

She apparently didn't stop him soon enough, because the twins were now looking at them curiously, "What does it mean?" asked Milly, confusion scrunching up his face cutely.

"Yeah tell us Malcy!" said Jilly, causing her and her twin to chant "tell us!" over and over again, causing her other siblings and her father to laugh and her mother to urge the twins to stop that, but was also giggling at the predicament her second oldest daughter was in.

Before her brother could spill the beans, he was interrupted by the door bell ringing. Seeing this as her chance to get out of answering a very embarrassing subject, Alice quickly got up from her seat and headed for the door. "I'll get it!" She said as she practically ran to the door, ignoring her mother's protest that she just sat down to eat. She got to the door and opened it, to see a very strange looking man.

He was a tall man with brown hair, a handle bar mustache with a long connecting goatee, dressed in a black robe like suit jacket with deep red trim and a bright red interior that ended just above his ankles, a purple vest with brass buttons and green trim, a white long sleeve button up shirt, black pants, a navy and cranberry red striped tie, green alligator hide shoes with metal toe caps, and a black fedora with a purple band around it.

"Hello there!" he said as he looked down at her with a warm smile on his face. "I'm here to meet a miss…" He stopped abruptly, eyes squinting in thought before widening, and he started to stick his hands into his pockets looking for something. "Sorry, one moment. No. Not that one. Nope. No, no, and no. Nuh-uh. Oh, I hope I didn't leave something as important as that in my office... again. Ah ha!" He said victoriously as he pulled out a letter from inside his robes right sleeve.

"I am here to see a Ms. Alice Starling. Is she home? Actually," He squatted down to look at her more closely, eyes squinty and taking in every detail about her, right hand to his chin in a thoughtful gesture while his left hand was on his knee. "You look to be the right age, so you could be her, but then there could be another eleven-year-old living here or you're her twin sister, but that would be unlikely because we would have been told about another No-Maj-born."

He suddenly got a glimmer in his eyes and a big smile on his face, "Unless only one of you was born with it! That would be fascinating! I don't think I've ever heard of that! I might be the one to discover such a phenomenon!" He frowned again and quickly shook his head. "Wait, no. I'm getting off track here. Is Alice Starling here? Yes or no please." He finished with a smile on his face again.

Taken completely off guard by all those words being hurled at her, a perplexed Alice answered the very strange man in the hat. "I'm Alice Starling. Who are you?" The man in the hat smiled at her answer, slapping his knee as he practically bounced back up to his standing position.

"Most excellent, Ms. Starling!" He said smile growing wider as he looked down at her. "But before I can introduce myself I need to speak to your parents." He suddenly got a worried look on his face. "They are home, right? It would be a tad embarrassing if I came all this way and they weren't here." Before she can go and get one of her parents, her mother walks in from the dining room.

"Alice who is it at the door? Oh!" she says that last part in surprise as she sees the man in the hat at the door. "Hello there, how can I help?" she asks, her tone a little uneasy at seeing the man's strange appearance.

"How do you do! You must be Mrs. Starling!" said the man. "I'm so glad you're actually home! My name is Professor Sylas M. Zax!" He holds out his hand to shake Mrs. Starling's hand, which she does, not bothering to correct him that she was actually 'Dr. Starling', because she didn't like to put on airs.

"Nice to meet you Professor, but may I ask why you're on at my door step?" She asked, still slightly unnerved by the man. Alice knew that her mother wasn't a judgmental or superficial person, nor was she, but she couldn't help but feel if they looked up the word strange in the dictionary, they would see his picture.

"You may indeed, ma'am." He stood up straight and, though he still wore a smile, his voice became far more official, "I am here to deliver this letter," He held up said letter, "to your daughter Alice, to provide evidence that the contents of this letter are true, and to answer any questions you might have. May I come in?"

Alice's mother looked at the man suspiciously for a moment, weighing the pros and cons of letting this odd man in, Alice was guessing. Seeming to reach the conclusion that the man was either not dangerous, or if he was there were at least four people in the house that could take him down, three of whom were or still are fit athletes. "I'm sorry, please come in Professor Zax. Alice can you go get your father and meet us in the living room. Can I offer you a drink? I just made a fresh pot of coffee."

Saying that a cup of coffee would be 'absolutely magnificent' Alice did as she was asked and got her father. Once entering the room, Alice could tell that her father was also a little weirded out a bit at the man who stood from the armchair facing the family couch, but he mentally shook it off as he physically shook the mans offered hand. "Nice to meet you Professor Zax. Mind if I ask what you're a professor of?" he asked as he sat down on the opposite side of the couch that his wife was on with his daughter in the middle.

Zax smiled at the question. "I will gladly tell you but first," He said, then held out the letter to Alice, "I think you should read this." Alice hesitantly took the letter from the professor, not sure what was so important about it. She looked it over, seeing that it was addressed to her, right down to which room in the house was hers. _'Well, that's a little disturbing.'_ She thought as she turned the letter over to look at the seal. It had the image of a Gordian knot stamped into cranberry red wax. She broke the seal and pulled out the papers inside, and read, with her parents reading over her shoulders, the top letter.

 _Dear Miss Alice Starling,_

 _We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Enclosed with this letter is a list of all necessary supplies for the upcoming year._

 _Term begins September first._

 _With kind regards and hope to see you on first day of term,_

 _Professor Agilbert Fontaine_

 _Headmaster of Illvermorny_

All three of the Starlings looked up at the man sitting across from them like he was crazy. Alice was willing to believe that she could go to places she had never been before with characters from a story book in her dreams, but for someone to hand her a letter saying that she was accepted into a school for witches and therefore implying that magic is real is a bit much for her. Her father seemed to be of the same mind, because he was raising to his feet with an angry expression on his face. "I think it's time for you to go and not come near my daughter, or any of my kids, again."

Zax was still smiling as he pulled out a slender stick out of his left sleeve. He pointed it at the decorative wooden bowl on the coffee table and before their eyes it turned into a frog. With a wave the wand, the frog began to dance and sing like that in one those loony toons cartoon. There was a crash and Alice tore her eyes away from the frog to see her siblings in a heap on the floor at the entrance to the living room. They were obviously listening in on the conversation and fell down after seeing the frog. Her elder siblings all wore looks of astonishment, but Milly and Jilly had looks of starry wonder on their faces.

With another wave, the frog turned back into a bowl, and Zax wore a self-satisfied smirk on his face as everyone looked at him. "I can also make those lovey candle sticks act out Bugs Bunny's 'Barber of Seville' if your still not convinced. May I have that coffee now? Four sugars and a just a little bit of cream, heavy cream if you have it. Please and thank you."

After that display of actual magic, all the Starlings gathered around the young Professor, after stopping the twins chanting "Again, again!". Said Professor was now happily sipping his coffee, as he prepared to tell them about the Wizarding World. "There is a world beside your own that you only know through myths and legends." He started, "Once we lived out in the open, but then No-Majs, non-magical people, began to fear our magic, so it was decided by the leaders of our world to hide us away from the non-magical world and laws were made to keep our world secret. These rules are called the Statute of Secrecy."

"So," Mr. Starling said, trying to wrap his head around what he's being told, "Your telling me there is a whole community of people out there, that no one knows about, and can do real, honest to god, magic? How does someone keep that a secret?"

"Well there have been some," Zax quickly cleared his throat, "slip ups over the years. We might have magic, but we are still human. There are government bodies for each nation on the planet, ours is called the Magical Congress of the United States of America or MACUSA for short, that have divisions and departments dedicated to dealing with and covering up breaches to the Statute of Secrecy."

"If that's the case," Said a still very confused Mrs. Starling, "then how exactly is our daughter a witch? None of my side or my husband's side of the family are part of your world." Alice was glad her parents were asking these questions, because she was still in shock after finding out that magic was _**REAL**_! How do you cope with that information rationally? It would be like expecting a cave man to understand physics after just telling him it exists!

"Ah, now we come back to the crux of the issue!" he said with a delighted tone. "There are three ways a magical child is born into the world. First one is straight forward, a wizard and a witch have a child, which clearly you all don't fall under that one. Then there is the second way, which is that a witch or wizard has a child with a No-Maj, but since none of your other children have magic it's clearly not that one either. Which leaves us with the third possibility: A No-Maj-Born."

"A No-Maj-Born?" said Alice finding her voice. She decided half way through the professor's mini lecture that she would hold off her little existential crisis for later when she wasn't being given important information about the world she apparently belonged to. She was always good at compartmentalizing things like that if she really needed to.

"A child born out of a union between two No-Maj's." he informed her. "We don't know how or why it happens, but every so often, a witch or wizard is born to parents that have no magical power what so ever. It's like being double jointed, being able to whistle, or able to make the perfect blueberry cupcakes when none of the rest of your family can."

"But if you don't know how it happens, how do you know when it happens?" Mrs. Starling asked, her tone now curious, "And if you have that information, why not inform the parents when they are born?" Alice looked to the professor, very interested to find out herself.

"Just like the No-Maj governments has a record of people who were born and live in this country, so too does MACUSA, but instead of sending someone door to door with a census, we have enchanted means to collect that information." He shrugged his shoulders, "I'm not privy to how it works and as to why we don't inform the parents, there is always the small chance that they won't be able to use it and if their magic never manifests and we inform the parents of the magical world, that would be in violation of the Statute of Secrecy, which is why we wait until the Ilvermorny enchantments produce the letter and address of a No-Maj-born."

"You seem to know a bit about our side of the fence Professor Zax," commented Mr. Starling, scrutinizing the wizard before him with a quizzical expression, "do all wizards and witches have the same level of knowledge of our world?"

"No actually," said Zax with sigh of disappointment, "Most full-blooded wizards and witches wouldn't come near the No-Maj world with a ten-foot poll." A sad look crossed his eyes and his smile turned into a frown, "Most wizards and witches have long memories, and they remember the persecution we went through during the dark ages and the witch trials. For the longest time, it was actually illegal for a wizard or witch to interact with a No-Maj in America."

As soon as it appeared the frown was gone the smile was back, "But then the laws that segregated our worlds was repealed in 1965 and there was a new era of cooperation between our people was made." He stood up straighter in his seat and a note of pride was in his voice as he went on "A few decades later, my mother, a witch and the rebel of the family, met my No-Maj father, fell in love and nine months later, I show up which makes me a half blood and knowledgeable about the No-Maj world." He then cleared his throat, "Now that I've told you a little about our world we can now get back to the school.

"Ilvermorny school for witchcraft and wizardry was founded in 1627 by Isolt Sayre, James Steward, a No-Maj, Chadwick, and Webster Boot." He said as he pulled out a pamphlet from one of his suit pockets and handed it to the Starlings to peruse while he was talking. They all gasped when they saw that all the pictures were moving, including a small portrait of a very old African American man who waved at them. "We are one of the best magical schools in the world and one of the least elitists schools too. At Ilvermorny, Ms. Starling will learn to use her magic and learn about our world and our history to become functioning member of our society if she so chooses."

"And what if she doesn't want to?" Mr. Starling asked, his tone skeptical. Alice looked at her dad curiously, why wouldn't she want to go to a school that taught her how to use her magic? Ignoring his daughters look, he pressed on. "What if we, her parents, don't want her to go to this school of yours? You just told us there is a world we know nothing about and you want us to send our child into it? I doubt this is free or completely safe, so why should we send her?"

Zax again looked pained, "As her parents, that is your right to not send if you wanted. The school and even MACUSA won't force you to do so, but there are certain health risks to not receiving the necessary training to control her magic." From another of his pockets, this one his vest pocket, he took out a very small book. He set the book down on the table, pulled out his wand, and tapped the book with it, causing it to grow to be the size of a phone book. The book was bound in leather, with mythic and odd creatures engraved in it, and the title read 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them: expanded edition for the true Magizoologist, by Newt Scamander'.

Zax flicked his wand at the book, causing it to open and flip through the pages as if a strong wind had hit it, before stopping at a specific page. On the page was the image of an incorporeal, and amorphous entity with the appearance of a black, fluid-like cloud. Like the pamphlet, the image was moving, but it was just hovering there.

"This is what we call an Obscurus." Said Zax after a while. "It's the manifestation of the repressed energy of a magical child. It is rare, but if a child is not trained and has to repress their magic, they will manifest an Obscurus and become an Obscurial. Once a child becomes an Obscurial, they will become a force of near unstoppable destruction and it is very rare for an Obscurial to survive the transformation long." As if sensing his words, the Obscurus on the book exploded on the pages of the book, destroying the paragraphs and sending letters flying.

Alice and her family jumped, her little brother and sister burrowing their heads in their mothers' sides. "Sorry!" the professor said, quickly shutting the book and putting it back in his pocket, "I forgot that chapter did that. Heath drawbacks aside, your daughter was born with an amazing gift and is part of a world with a rich culture that she is entitled to." Zax looked to Alice's parents imploringly, "Please don't deny her the chance to be a part of that world."

Alice looked at her parents who were looking at one another, doing that weird parent thing where they were have a whole conversation where they just look at each other and don't talk. Her father turned, clearly being 'told' to take the lead, and addressed the professor. "If we were to send her, and we're not saying yes, what happens next? Do we need drop her off somewhere and pick her up after school? Where do we get supplies? Do we need to pay for her schooling and how much dose it cost?" he stopped a moment as something occurred to him, "Do you even use our currency?"

"Ah, the easy portion of this meeting." Zax said, sounding relived. "Those are very simple questions and I will answer them in order," he took a big breath of air then launched into his info dump "What happens next is that we make an appointment at your earliest convenience for to come and take Alice and one or both of you to get her supplies, she will take the schools train, the Ilvermorny Special, to the school in Massachusetts where she will stay till the school year ends, the shops that sell the necessary supplies is located in New Orleans, Louisiana, there is no tuition, and no we don't use the same currency, but Gringotts the Wizarding Bank will exchange your No-Maj currency for MACUSA Dragots." He had started to lose air at this point and gulped down as much air as he could while the Starling parents silently discussed the matter.

Her parents looked at one another again before both looked down to her and she could see the question in their eyes. "I really want to go." She almost whispered, "If I can do magic, I want to learn to use it." She decided it was time to unleash the secret weapon Anna had taught her: the puppy dog eyes. "Please can I go?" she asked with big shiny eyes and she was very proud of herself for making her bottom lip tremble a little.

Her dad looked pained at her use of that vile look, while her mother looked amused. They looked at each other again. Her father sighed, "I have an important meeting tomorrow, but my wife should be able to go with Alice to get her supplies with you, tomorrow if that's possible. So yes, she can go." Alice let out a whoop of joy (she would **not** be one of those girls that squalled) and launched herself at her father, hugging him as tightly as she could and thanking him over and over again.

She was going to be a witch!

* * *

AN: Yes, you are indeed, my chick-a-dee! The adventure begins! I'm so happy that this is going to be out there in internet-land! Please let me know what you think with a review, but please, if you're not going to say anything nice, do me the kindness and shut the hell up. Till next time, I bid you adieu!


	3. Chapter 2

AN: Salutations and bienvenue! Sorry it's been a while, but other projects called my name and, if I'm being honest, the lack of views on this story has been disheartening. But I don't do this for the views, I do this out of a need to create! Now on with the story!

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

 **Fast cars and Talking pictures**

Alice was very grateful and a little surprised that she was able to get any sleep that night after Professor Zax left. She still couldn't believe it; she was a witch! She had magical powers! All the things she had done in her dreams, she had the potential to do so in the real world!

She wished Professor Zax had stayed longer to answer her questions, but as soon as her parents had said yes to her going to Illvermorny, he stood up with a big smile, asked if nine o'clock was too early to pick them up (her mom said that would be fine), drained his coffee, enthusiastically shook all the Starlings hands (even the twins), and was out the door. Alice had run after him, but when she opened the door to follow him, no one was outside. The only thing she saw was a bird flying away in the distance.

When she got back inside, the atmosphere was a little mixed: Her parents were whispering about something she couldn't hear because her little brother and sister were ecstatic that their big sister was a witch and were wondering aloud if when they got older, they would have magic like her too.

Ben and Malcom looked like they were in deep thought, which was normal for Malcom, but weird for her take-action big brother Ben. Then there was Anna, sitting apart from the rest of the family, looking pensive.

Seeing her elder sibling so quiet and face troubled, worried Alice. She had always idolized her big sister and if Anna thought that she was some kind of freak, she didn't know what she would do. Most likely sensing her sister's eyes on her, the eldest Starling child looked up to meet her sister's worried gaze.

Anna smiled at Alice and got up to hug her little sister. "I knew you were special, Al, but I didn't think you were magical too." Anna said as she broke the hug, and that made Alice feel a little better.

"Same here, squirt!" Said Ben as he got up and scooped Alice up in a bear hug. "Maybe now that you have magic, you might be good at a sport!"

"Probably a wizarding sport." Said Malcom as he joined his siblings, not participating in the bear hug, which had turned into a group hug when the twins latched themselves to Alice's dangling legs, "If they have a whole society, it would make sense that they would also have sports and other things that would be similar to things we have in our world."

"Guys…I'm loving all the love," Alice gasped out, face going blue, "but it's getting hard to breath and my legs are going numb!" Her pleas fell on deaf ears as her brother started to swing her around, her little siblings giggling and the rest of her family laughing at their antics.

' _That's probably why I was able to get to sleep.'_ Alice thought ruefully as she, her mother, and the twins ate their breakfast, _'I was physically exhausted from Ben's roughhousing.'_

The other members of the Starling family had already left for either work (Anna and Mr. Starling) or to go and spend time with friends (Ben and Malcom) while Alice and Mrs. Starling waited for Professor Zax. However, this left the twins situation in limbo.

They were supposed to spend the day with their mother, but the witchy reveal put a monkey wrench in that plan. So, Mrs. Starling was currently on the phone with their usual sitter, silently cursing her husband and older children for leaving the house early and leaving her with this problem.

"Hi Britney! I was wondering if you could…" Alice looked up from finishing her French toast as her mom listened to the other end of the phone, "food poisoning? Oh, sweetheart I'm sorry, get some rest…No, no, we'll be fine. Get well soon." Alice giggled at the face her mother made at the phone when she hung up.

"Well, I guess I could try-" but the doorbell rang, cutting her off. The assembled Starlings looked at the clock, nine o'clock on the dot. "Well, at least you won't need to worry about your teacher being late to class."

"We'll get it!" shouted the twins and they shot out of their chairs before their mother could stop them.

"Wait!" Mrs. Starling tried, but the twins were already heading down the hall to the front door. She turned to Alice, "Can you make sure that your brother and sister don't let in an axe murderer, please?"

"Yes ma'am." Said Alice, getting up from the table and followed the twins to the door. When she got to the hall, the twins had already opened the door, but luckily it was Professor Zax and not an axe murderer. "Hi Professor."

The Professor, dressed in virtually the same outfit as yesterday (a black vest and green interior robes instead today), looked up from the twins and smiled at seeing Alice, "Good morning, Ms. Starling! I would come in," he said as he looked back down at the twins, "but there seems to be small humans barring my way."

"Milly, Jilly, you're being rude." Alice admonished, "Let Professor Zax through."

"Can you make the bowl into a dancing frog again?" asked Milly, either ignoring or not hearing his sister over the majesty that was a real-life wizard. Jilly had the same starry-eyed expression that her twin had on his face as they waited for his answer.

The Professor's smile grew as he squatted to be close to their eye level. "That entirely depends on what your mom says. Using magic on someone else's things without their permission once is okay, but twice would be rude." He shot up to stand straight and held out his hands to the seven-year-olds, "Now why don't you two escort me to her so we can ask?"

"Okay!" Milly and Jilly said in unison, quickly taking the tall man's hands and lead him into the kitchen. Alice chuckled at the site, which earned her a wink from the silly man.

The group entered the kitchen just as Mrs. Starling was getting off the phone. "Professor Zax," She said in greeting, her tone filled with barely forced cheer, "I'm afraid I'm having trouble getting a sitter. I hate to ask this but is there a chance we can reschedule?"

"We can, but we can also take them with us." He said as the twins let go of his hands to go up to their mother and jump up and down asking 'Can we?!' over and over again, forgetting about the dancing frog in favor of going to a magical place with a real wizard.

"Are you sure?" Mrs. Starling asked, giving her rambunctious little ones a look that they had learned long ago meant to cut out what they were doing, "I don't want to impose."

"It's no imposition Mrs. Starling." Professor Zax said, not looking as frazzled as her mother was about this. "This merely changes our mode of transport, which is more than safe for you and your children."

"Well, I'm glad that's been worked out." Mrs. Starling said then arched a brow, "Actually, I'm wondering how we're going to get to this place in New Orleans and get back home by tonight." she then jokingly said, "Unless we were going to teleport."

"Actually," Zax started to say then suddenly there was a loud cracking sound and Zax was gone from his spot at the hall doorway, only to reappear behind the counter where the coffee things were, filling a mug with coffee and adding cream and sugar, "we were, although we wizards call it apparating. Now that we are going to be quintet instead of a trio, however, we'll be taking a different mode of transport."

Alice observed that her mother was slow to respond, most likely taking a moment to digest the fact that teleportation was real as well as the fact that her daughter would most likely learn to do that at some point. She could understand, she was going through the same thought process, just a bit more excited.

Seeming to come back to herself, Mrs. Starling physically shook herself and finally asked, "If we're not… apparating, then how will we get there?"

"It would probably be better if I showed you." He said as he proceeded out the way he came but stopped at the door and looked back at Mrs. Starling looking chastised, "I'm sorry, but I just realized that I've interrupted your breakfast. We can leave once you're finished; I am very sorry."

"Oh, that's okay Professor Zax," Mrs. Starling reassured the young teacher, "We were actually finished. If you'll just let me put our things away-"

"Please let me!" Zax said as he pulled out his wand, "After all, I'm the one that popped in, even if I was expected." Before Mrs. Starling can protest, Zax waved his wand at the table, then did a complicated pattern and muttered a few words and the food and mess vanished and everything was put away.

"There, all clean and presentable." Zax told the Starlings with a smile, Alice noticing his smile growing a little wider at the gobsmacked look on her mother's face. "Now, if you four will follow me, please." Zax once again turned and proceeded to the front door.

Quickly grabbing her purse and the twins go bag full of toys, games, and spare clothes, Mrs. Starling directed her children to follow the professor, who had already opened the door and walked outside.

With the Starlings assembled outside with him, Professor Zax reached into his pocket, but by the look of his face, didn't find what he was looking for. Much like his first visit, he started to rummage around his pockets before stopping his search to take off his hat, handing his cup of coffee to Alice, and reach inside it in a move that defied Alice's limited knowledge of physics.

Zax had stuck his whole arm inside the hat, all the way to the shoulder. After a few moments, Professor Zax smiled and pulled out a toy car. _'Well that's a little anticlimactic.'_ Alice thought as she watched the professor walked to the curb and placed the car on the street.

As he was turning to walk back over to them, Alice could see that his lips were moving and he was moving his wand in different directions and patterns. Then he dramatically spun around, pointed his wand at the toy, and said "Engorgio!"

Icy blue light shot from his wand, encircled the car, and then the car suddenly grew to a normal sized car. It was an old car, like the one she remembered Cruella Devil driving in '101 Dalmatians', but his was painted dark green instead of red and the hood ornament looked like an owl.

"That was a little…dramatic." Mrs. Starling said dryly, seeming to Alice to be getting used to magic a bit better after seeing more of it. "Are all spells like that?"

"Nope, that's just me." The professor said with a self-indulgent smile as he walked to his car, retrieving his coffee from Alice. "And you don't need to worry about your neighbors seeing that. I casted notice-me-not charms on the area. Which reminds me." He said as he stopped, spun around, and dropped down to sit on his haunches again to look the twins in the eye. "Little Ms. Starling and little Mr. Starling." He said solemnly to the two seven-year-olds, "I need you to make a promise to me: do not tell anyone about what you are going to see today, or that your sister is a Witch."

"Why not?" Asked Jilly in a near whine, her twin matching her curious and slightly petulant expression. Alice could understand how they felt, she wanted to shout from the rooftops that she was a witch, but she had read enough stories about magic in modern times to understand the broad reasons of why they wanted to keep it secret.

"Because we Wizards and Witches choose to live in secret from the No-Maj world for a reason." The professor said patiently. "People fear what they don't understand and might react…badly if they found out that magic is real. So, I need you two to promise not to tell anyone what you've seen now or later on this trip. Promise?" He asked and held up both hands with his pinkies extended toward them.

The Twins looked at the pinkies with a little bit of awe. In their seven-year-old minds, Alice knew, a pinky swear was the most solemn of vows. After a few more seconds of looking at the fingers, the twins looked at one another and, seeming to come to some silent agreement, curled the professor's pinkies with theirs and gave small shakes.

The Professor smiled at the little ones as he released their fingers and then sprang back up to stand up straight, but his smile vanished as he looked at Alice's mother. "Mrs. Starling is everything alright?" he asked in a concerned voice.

Alice looked at her mother then and saw that a look of concern, and maybe a little bit of fear, was on her mother's face, but it was soon wiped away as the twins turned to look too. "No, nothing." She said in a calm voice, totally opposed to her earlier expression, as she looked to the car with a raised eyebrow, "I would ask if we're driving, but I've learned my lesson by now."

"Full disclosure, we are not technically driving there." Zax said with a slightly mischievous smile, "but we will be using the car." He then went over and opened the front and back passenger side doors, "Now who's going to be my copilot?" At the hopeful look in the twin's eyes, Zax quickly said "And there is a minimum height requirement."

"You two can sit with me in the back," Mrs. Starling consoled the two, shaking their bag of distractions for good measure. "Plus, I'm sure that your sister has questions for Professor Zax."

Mollified, the twins jumped into the back seat, followed by their mom and Alice got into the passenger seat and marveled at the dashboard. It was covered in buttons and switches of various colors and sizes with some kind of round mount near the steering wheel, which had a few extra leavers attached to it. The center console had what looked like a boat control leaver and a larger than normal cup holder.

The professor quickly got into the driver's seat, set his mug of coffee in the cup holder, and turned the ignition. "Just need to do a few things before we get going." He told the Starlings, flipping switches and pressing buttons, muttering to himself as he did so, "Activating climate control, switching on collision warning and stasis cushion, priming invisibility booster, and engaging the pressure normalizer and child locks." With that last statement, there was a loud 'thunk' sound, like a large bolt sliding into place.

Looking at her door a little perplexed, Alice almost missed the professor taking out a large pocket watch. It was about the size of his fist and made from some kind of black metal and had a 'S', 'M', and a 'Z', each stacked on top of one another, engraved in gold. He placed his watch in the mount she saw earlier and opened it, three separate faces sliding out.

The main face was a standard clock face with exposed gears, the second face was a compass, and the last face looked like a watch, but had several hands pointing in different locations that were labeled 'home', 'school', 'work', 'travelling', 'lost', 'hospital', 'prison', and 'mortal peril'.

"New Orleans, Louisiana, please." The professor told the watch and the compass's arrow pointed in a different direction, presumably toward the state. "Quick question," Zax asked the Starlings, "Have you seen the 'Back to the Future' movies?"

Alice had a bad/excited feeling about that question, those feelings were confirmed when the professor pulled one of leavers on the steering wheel and she felt the car lifting up. "Are we…flying?" Asked Alice in awe and rather needlessly as she saw the scenery outside shrink down as they rose up into the air.

"Yes, indeedy!" The professor said as they continued to rise into the air, patting the dashboard affectionately, "I rebuilt my darling Rosemarie from scratch when I was sixteen with my dad, I enchanted her myself, and she has served me well for nine years."

"Why'd you name her Rosemarie?" Alice asked quizzically.

"Because Bartholomew's too long and Desmond's a silly name for a car." Zax told her seriously.

"Oh God." Mrs. Starling moaned and both Alice and the professor looked into the backseat to see her. Mrs. Starling was sitting in the middle seat between the twins (who were both looking outside their windows in giddy awe) with her eyes firmly shut and hands white knuckling the hand straps on the roof.

"Oh yeah…" Alice said in a slightly pained voice as she turned to Zax who had a look of concerned confusion on his face, "Mom's afraid of heights."

"Ah, in that case," Zax said as he reached into the glovebox and took out a pair of sunglasses with a small turn wheel on the side, "it would probably be best if she wore these."

"What are they?" Alice asked as she watched him open the glass's side arms and turn the wheel a few times.

"These are MRGs, which stands for Magical Reality Glasses." He told her as he put the glasses on and looked around. "They're normally a recreational tool for Witches and Wizards that can't take time off from work, but I've modified these for passengers that have the same fear as your mother."

"Really? Can I see?" She asked a little excitedly, receiving a nod from the professor as he handed her the glasses. She put them on and was amazed to see that outside the car windows it looked like they were on a country road. "This is so cool! Here mom, these will _definitely_ help!" She told her mother as she removed the glasses.

Mrs. Starling reached out blindly for the glasses with a shaky, and slightly desperate, hand and hurriedly put them on, only opening her eyes when they were firmly on her face. When she did so, she did a double take and lifted the glasses to test them, but hurriedly put them back down when she saw the reality of her situation. "I wish I had these on the plane trip to Hawaii." Alice heard her mother muttered to herself.

"I think I actually have 'Hawaii Highway' on there if you'd prefer that one, Mrs. Starling. Just turn the dial on the side to cycle through the available scenes." Professor Zax told her and returned to looking over his car's gauges.

"I think we're high enough to not hit any birds and low enough to not bump into any planes." Zax informed them and the Starling children giggled when they heard their mother let out a small 'eep', then the professor placed his hand on the boat control leaver. "Next stop, New Orleans!" He proclaimed and pulled the control leaver back two notches, stepped on the accelerator, and they were off, flying at a speed that would impress a fighter jet.

Despite the speed they were going, Alice didn't feel the GeForce she was expecting to feel from going this fast. She felt like she was in a normal car going for a drive, the only indication of their speed being how fast the landscape was moving below them.

"Professor Zax, is it okay if I ask you some questions?" Alice asked politely. She wanted to just start asking questions, but she didn't want to irritate the young professor.

"It's more than okay, I love questions!" He said with a grin, sparing her a small glance before looking back to the skyline. "I encourage all my students to ask questions. After yesterday, I was actually worried that you were one of those kids that just go with the flow and never want to ask a question or learn."

' _I was going to, but you left before I could.'_ Alice thought but asked instead, "What kinds of classes are there at Ilvermorny?"

"Well there are the basics: astronomy, charms, defense against the dark arts, flying but that's just in your first year, herbology, history of magic, no-maj studies, potions, and then there's the subject that I teach transfiguration." he said as he picked up his coffee and took a sip, keeping at least one hand on the wheel, before continuing, "There are other classes, but those are the classes that you'll have for most of your school career."

"What about the stuff I was going to learn at my old school?" Alice asked next, having wondered about that shortly after the professor had left. She wasn't one of those kids that asked if there was going to be homework, she wasn't _that_ kind of book worm, but she did like to learn and didn't want to fall behind her siblings and her peers.

"For the most part, it's not really necessary." He told her. "We Wizards and Witches only really need to know how to read, write, and basic math skills before we go to school and even after we're finished with it. Any other higher forms, we learn along with our magical one, like Arithmancy which uses a higher form of math."

"How do you keep magic a secret?" Alice asked next.

"Very, very, _very_ , carefully." The Professor responded cryptically with a chuckle. "Like I told you all yesterday, there are whole departments in MACUSA that specialize in keeping us under wraps."

"But I still know what magic is. There are stories and myths about magical creatures, wizards, and witches." Alice argued, wondering how competent these departments are if they let stuff like that slip.

"Yes, but until now, I bet that's all they were to you: just stories." He answered back, a twinkle in his eye. Alice nodded, not really satisfied with that answer, but feeling that was all she was going to get.

"There's something that I've been wondering." Said Mrs. Starling, speaking for the first time since they took off from their neighborhood. "Why is it that Wizards and Witches have magic and the rest of don't?"

"I'm afraid I have absolutely no idea." Zax said regretfully, his smile dropping slightly. "It's not my field of expertise, but I know of a few books that might have the answers you want. We can get them when we along with Ms. Starling text books."

Alice perked up at the mention of books about magic and was about to ask about them, but the professor spoke up. "We're here!" He said in a sing-song voice as he pushed the boat leaver back down before he rapidly pulled a few leavers and pressed buttons.

The Starlings looked out the window and saw that, indeed, they were descending into a large town area next to a huge river and a small city in the distance. "How is that even possible?!" Alice asked in disbelief, "We've only been in the air for a few minutes!"

"Magic!" Zax said, pausing his technical ministrations to do the famous 'jazz hands' gesture, gaining giggles from the twins and unamused glares from the other two Starlings. Zax ignored this and got back to work, landing the car in a deserted alleyway before merging into the Big Easy's traffic. It was a short drive from their landing spot to the one the cities famous cemeteries: Lafayette one.

They parked outside the cemetery and followed Professor Zax to their destination, passing the mausoleums and mourners as they did so. "Why are we at a cemetery?" asked Alice uneasily as they passed a sobbing family, feeling like an intruder in this place of mourning.

"Because this is the only entrance to Voodoo Avenue." Zax said taking a nonchalant sip from his mug of coffee, his eyes focused straight ahead.

"Voodoo? Like in the _'Princess and the Frog'_?" Queried Jilly excitedly. She loved Disney movies, especially the princess movies.

"Something like that, little Ms. Starling." Zax said with an indulgent smile on his face as he turned an approached a modestly sized tomb with the symbol of some kind of bird etched into the top of a doorway. "However, we _do_ have friends on the other side."

They all walked in and saw a mosaic of an old dark skinned man dressed in a red shirt and straw hat, a pipe in his mouth and ring full of keys in one hand and a walking stick in the other, sitting on a rock in the middle of a crossroads with a large ornate iron gate in the background.

Zax took a final sip of his coffee, pocketing the cup in his breast pocket (the action not even disturbing the lining of his jacket) and approached the mosaic, clearing his throat.

"I am here to peruse your wears." He said in a clear voice and then reached into his sleeve and pulled out his wand enough to show the handle. A moment passed and nothing happened, earning a glare and exasperated sigh from the usually jovial professor. "Legba! Open the door!" He snapped at the wall.

Was it Alice's imagination, or did the depiction's eyes cut to her and her family before looking straight ahead again? A move that the professor caught as well apparently as he gave another exasperated sigh. "The young lady is a No-Maj-Born and those are her mother and siblings! They are allowed to come in! Now open up or I'll sick Mama on you!"

"No need to call dat formidable lady in, boy!" The old man said in a thick Jamaican accent with a glare and a shudder, shocking the Starlings as he spoke. Walls weren't supposed to move, let alone talk.

"Then open up and Mama doesn't need to know." Zax said evenly, crossing his arms defiantly. The old man, apparently named Legba, grumbled, but the gate behind him opened and the tiles that made up his mosaic began to shift and move out of the way, revealing a staircase leading down underground with torches on the walls lighting the way down.

Zax sighed and rolled his eyes. "Thank you." He then looked to the Starlings, smile back on his face, and gestured for them to follow him down. "Sorry about Papa Legba." Zax said as they made their way down. "He's been around for centuries and in _desperate_ need of a restoration."

"I heard dat, ya insolent child!" said Papa Legba over the sound of his tiles going back into place, closing the entrance behind them. "I'd like ta see you do dis job after a hundred and eighty six years!"

"That wall… talked." Said Mrs. Starling slowly, clearly still processing that.

"Yes ma'am, it did." Zax answered helpfully.

"How can it do that? It doesn't have lounges or vocal cords- and do not just say 'magic' like before!" Mrs. Starling said quickly, doing jazz hands along with her words for emphasis. "It's not a satisfactory answer and you know it Professor."

"It's a special enchantment." Zax said sheepishly, chagrined by the Starling matriarch's scolding. "Magical artists and photographers use it to bring their art to life."

"Can I learn that spell?" Asked Alice excitedly, thinking how cool it would be to bring her drawings and pictures to life.

"You can, but only after a few years of study at Ilvermorny because it's a complicated spell." Zax told her regretfully, disappointing the young witch. They were soon reaching the end of the stairs and coming up to an entrance that looked out onto the most amazing sight: an underground town.

"Welcome, Starlings," Professor Zax said with a sweeping gesture toward the town street that was a close facsimile to the famous French quarter up top, "to Voodoo Avenue!"

* * *

AN: Hate to tease you guy with the American Diagon Alley and not show it, but this chapter would be much too long if I didn't stop here. Please let me know what you guys think of this story in a review, but till next time, I bid you adieu!


	4. Chapter 3

AN: Salutations and bienvenue! Time to take a stroll down the Avenue! This one's going to be a bit longer than last chapter because the story just wouldn't flow right if I cut it too short.

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

 **Voodoo Avenue**

There were so many things that grabbed Alice's attention, she didn't know where to look first. Voodoo Avenue was a near picture perfect replica of the famous French Quarter on the surface, the only thing that differed was the names and the contents of stores, not to mention and the people shopping in them.

There were people of all shapes and sizes, all dressed in robes like the professor wore, milling about or shopping. A lot of them seemed to be families getting school supplies, but most seemed to be witches and wizards getting the things hey needed or wanted. Alice did notice that most of the people were giving her and her family weird looks and giving them a wide berth.

"Pretty amazing isn't it?" Asked Zax next to them, his smile spreading with joyous pride. "I remember coming here with my mom when I was the twin's age. I could look at the amazing things here all day, but we have things to buy and we can't do that without Dragots, so off to Gringotts!" With that declaration the professor began walking down the crowded street, the Starlings hurrying to follow him.

"Mommy! Look!" said Milly excitedly as he used the hand his mother wasn't holding to point up at the ceiling. "They even have the sky down here!"

Alice, having been too preoccupied at looking at the stores and the people around them to do so earlier, looked up and gasped as she saw that the same sky they saw before was reflected above them. "Awesome." Alice whispered, amazed.

"I see that sweetheart." Mrs. Starling responded numbly as she looked up at the sky with her children, wonder and awe in her voice. "I just don't know how they're doing that."

"It's an enchantment. My school back home had the same cast on it's great hall." Said a cultured voice in front of them. Alice tore her eyes from the ceiling/sky to see a middle-aged woman with black hair that framed her dark-skinned face in waves. She was dressed in an orange blouse, long maroon split skirt pants, and black robes over it. She stood resolute and with the same confidence that she would see her sister have when faced with a challenging gymnastic routine.

"Professor Patil! What a nice surprise!" Zax said with genuine pleasure, turning to the Starlings. "This is Professor Parvati Patil, head of house Wampus and Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts at Ilvermorny." Zax then turned back to the other teacher. "Professor Patil, this is Alice Starling, her mother and younger siblings. Ms. Starling will be joining us at Ilvermorny this coming school year."

"Nice to meet you ma'am." Said Alice with a smile as she held out her hand for a handshake. The professor grinned at her and accepted her handshake, giving her hand a solid pump. At closer inspection, Alice saw that there was a gold brooch in the shape of some kind of big cat pinned to her robes.

"It's nice to meet you too." Patil said to the Starlings before turning to Zax. "Hello Sylas, I take it that this is one of the Muggle-borns the headmaster put you in charge of?"

"I thought you said Alice was a No-Maj-born?" Asked Jilly confused at the new word to describe her big sister. "Is Muggle-born something different?"

"No, little Ms. Starling it's not. Muggle and Muggle-born are the terms they use for No-Maj and No-Maj-born in England, where Professor Patil is from." Zax informed the Starlings before he turned back to Patil. "She is indeed." Zax told his colleague conversationally. "I've already spoken to the other student and his family and made an appointment to escort him and his father her later on this week. And you?"

"I've made appointments with my students as well but," Patil made a face as she added in a critical aside, "between you and me, I don't think they'll be joining my wild cats. I'm actually here with my daughter, it'll be her first year at Ilvermorny as well."

"That's wonderful! How time flies!" Zax smiled brighter at his fellow professor. "I'm sure you're very proud. Where is she?"

"She's at Missy's right now getting her school robes. Actually," She looked down at her wristwatch, "she'll be done with her robes fitting in a few minutes and I still need to pick up her books and such." She walked past them, throwing over her shoulder: "Lovely to meet you Starlings and it's always nice to see you Sylas. I'll see you at the start of term."

"Have a good day Professor Patil and give your daughter my best!" Zax said to the witch's retreating back before he resumed his trek to the bank, the Starlings following him. "Nice lady, a little chatty if she's in the mood, but still very nice and an excellent Defense teacher."

"She said she went to a school in England, which school was that?" Asked Alice as she hurried to keep up with the professors longer stride and trying her best not to bump into anyone as she did so. "And what was that about her being a head of houses Wampus?"

"There's only one school in England and that's Hogwarts." Zax told her, still looking straight ahead, nimbly and gracefully sidestepping out of the way of oncoming foot traffic. "Ilvermorny uses a house system, and that's a traditional feature of schools in England, magical and otherwise. The school is divided into subunits called "houses" and each student is allocated, or sorted, to one of four houses at the beginning of the year."

"I know ones called Wampus, but what are the other houses called?" Alice asked as Zax spared a glance behind them to make sure that her mother and the twins were keeping up with them. They were, but it looked like the twins just wanted to run wild in this magical place, but their mother had a firm hold on their little hands.

"Thunderbird, Pukwudgie, and Horned Serpent." Zax stated succinctly, turning his attention back in front of them. "Each house has a member of the faculty in charge of the house, and that position is call a 'head'."

"So, like a home room teacher?" Alice asked, to which the professor nodded.

"Exactly! Excellent comparison." They turned a corner and saw a large white marble building that towered above them with the name ' _Gringotts_ ' engraved over the doors in bold gold letters. "Ah, we're here."

Alice studied the building, wondering how she had missed this five-story monument to the great dollar as they entered, but that thought was forgotten when her eyes landed on the two men at the banks bronze double doors. Though 'men' might not be the right term since they were two feet tall, had pale skin, long pointed noses, and long fingered hands.

"Are those…?" Alice couldn't finish the question, not believing what she was seeing despite all the other things she had already seen. Magic was messing with her worldview in the best way.

"Goblins? Yes, those are goblins." Zax told them as they climbed the stairs and walked through the open doors, where there were more goblins at teller windows with lines of wizards in front of them. "Goblins own and run Gringotts. There's no sentient being alive that can manage money better than goblins."

"Wonder if I can hire them to do our taxes?" Mrs. Starling murmured as she and her kids looked at the multitudes of goblins helping wizards with their banking needs. Alice checked on her brother and sister, worried that the goblins might be scaring them, but they were still in a state of awe with starry eyed wonder as they looked at the creatures straight from their story books.

"You can, but I wouldn't recommend it." Zax pulled a face, "Goblins are also insanely clever, know exactly how much their serves are worth, and usually overcharge you for them." Alice chuckled at that description, as it reminded her of the Ferengi, the money loving aliens from _Star Trek_.

They approached a tall teller desk where an old goblin woman with an impressively long nose, blood red lipstick, and white hair done up in a severe bun, was writing in a large ledger. At their approach the goblin looked up and glowered at them. "Can I help you?" She asked in a scratchy and throaty voice as she looked down at them, a sneer full of sharp teeth on her lips.

"Professor Sylas M. Zax here to exchange No-Maj currency for Dragots." Zax told the goblin in an official voice.

"Ah, Professor Zax, I've been expecting you." The old goblin, whose name was Grinka judging from the name tag on her suit jacket, told him as she picked up a pair of cats eye glasses that were on a chain around her neck and put them on, getting a better look at them. "Will we be opening an account for Miss…?"

"Alice Starling, but as for the account…" Zax looked over to Mrs. Starling, silently asking for her impute.

"Why do we need to open an account for her and how much does it cost?" Asked Mrs. Starling in her 'mom voice'. It was the voice she used to scold her children (sometimes her husband) and to question their teachers in PTA meetings.

"Why does anyone put money in a bank? To keep their money safe and to get more money from keeping it there." Grinka told her with just enough civility to make her annoyance known but not in an offensive way. "As for the price, it's a nonissue as your daughter falls under the purview of the Maleficarum foundation."

"What do you mean?" Mrs. Starling asked, "What's the Maleficarum foundation?" Just as the goblin, who was giving Zax an odd look, was about to answer the professor spoke up before she could.

"The Maleficarum foundation is a charitable organization that is dedicated to helping incoming No-Maj-borns integrate into our society as easily as possible." Zax said quickly, sliding a look to the goblin when she was about to speak over him, effectively shutting her up. "It also helps by paying for half the cost of school supplies the first year."

Mrs. Starling thought this over for a moment before nodding her consent and turning to Alice. "Your father and I had planned to open an account for you at our bank so that you could start saving money, but if you're going to be a part of this world, you might as well save your money at a wizard bank."

Grinka got out another ledger from below her desk, opened it to a certain page, and picked up her quill as she looked down at Alice. "May I have your full name, please miss?"

"It's just Alice Starling, ma'am. No middle name." Alice informed the goblin, who nodded as she wrote her name down and then called another goblin over to hand her the leger to sign. Alice signed her name down in her neat cursive and the other goblin, his name tag read Egrat, ran around the desk to hand it back to Grinka who took it and then opened a drawer that jingled with the sound of metal, and took out a key, handing it to Egrat who in turn handed it to Alice.

"Do not lose this key or give it to anyone else." Grinka warned Alice sternly. "Without it, you will not be allowed into your vault and will not have access to your funds. Is that understood Ms. Starling?"

"Yes ma'am." Alice replied as she tucked the key into a pocket of her little backpack, which she had grabbed before she left the house. While she had the pack open, she pulled out a medium sized mason jar full of dollar bills and loose change. "I'd like to convert all of this and place half in my vault while I'm here, please."

Grinka raised an impressed brow at the jar while Zax and her mother looked at it in surprise. "Where did you get all that money from?" asked her mother in a shocked voice.

"From mowing the neighbors' lawns, birthday money, and finding it around the park and in the sofa cushions." Alice said with a small amount of pride. She had also gotten some from her sister by keeping quiet about how she had used her window to sneak out and go to a party when she was supposed to be grounded, but she didn't think her mother needed to know about that.

Grinka dispatched Egrat to bring her the jar and once it was in her hands, she opened it and poured out the contents onto her desk. Her long-fingered hands, which were painted the same shade of red as her lipstick, moved surprisingly fast as she sorted out each currency into neat stacks of their exact amount.

"You have here eighty-five dollars and forty-seven cents, which converts to one hundred and one dragots and twenty-four spinks." Grinkra informed them smoothly, flooring Mrs. Starling.

"I think I'll have you do our taxes, page turner." Mrs. Starling told her daughter, impressed at her daughter's ability to save her money and Alice smiled, proud of her achievement. She had decided to pass on buying a lot of books in exchange for keeping some money stashed away in case she needed it.

"We will store half your dragots in your vault as requested, Ms. Starling," Grinka informed her as she put the No-Maj money into a pouch and took out a stack of small octagonal disks and two stacks of round ones and placed them in a different pouch that she had Egrat hand to Alice, "and here is the other half: sixty-five dragots and sixty-two spinks. Is there anything else that we can do for you while you're here?"

Mrs. Starling quickly asked if she could get some of her money exchanged for dragots and after they had their money in hand, they thanked the goblin and were back on the Avenue. "Okay, we have the money we need, where to next professor?" Asked Mrs. Starling as she stored her dragots in her purse.

"I would suggest that we get Ms. Starling fitted for her robes next." He told them, not even needing to think about it and already walking in the direction of the clothing store, spurring the Starlings to quickly follow him. "The fitting can take a while if Missy is in one of her perfectionist moods."

Alice quickly fell into step beside the professor. "You seem to know a lot of people here." Alice observed, thinking on how he interacted with Papa Legba, Professor Patil and the goblins.

Zax chuckled at that statement. "I do. The wizarding world is a tight knit community, no matter how big the nation or world. It also helps that the Avenue is _the_ place to get any and everything in America. There are other places of course, but none are better than here on the Avenue."

They soon came up to a shop that had robes for both men and women in the shop windows with a hanging sign over the door that read 'Missy's and Mister's boutique and tailor shop'. Walking inside they were greeted to the sight of a store with a split personality.

One side of the store was painted bright pink with floral prints and paintings on the walls and was dedicated to women's fashion, while the other was painted in more sedate and masculine tones with animal heads on the walls and dedicated to men's fashion.

Behind the main desk stood a woman with long blond hair, bright blue eyes, and whose lithe figure was dressed in a green dress with tight sleeves that went up to her wrists and looped around her middle fingers and a gossamer thin and shimmering cape attached to her shoulders.

"Sylas, darling! It's been ages!" The woman gushed as she came around the cashier's desk, and that was when Alice realized that _she_ was actually a _he_. The voice, while feminine, was still too low to belong to a biologically born woman and closer up she could see her jaw was more angular than a woman's.

"Missy! How are you, dear?" Zax asked as she came up to him, clasped his arms, and they both did air kisses on both cheeks.

"Not as fabulous as I should be, darling! You won't believe whose-!" Her lament was cut short as she noticed the Starlings. "Oh! Hello and welcome to my shop!" She said to them and then staged whispered to Zax, "Are they No-Maj's?"

"Three of them are, yes." Zax staged whispered back with a confused look on his face. "Why are we whispering?"

Before Missy could respond, two men stepped out of a back room with a young boy about Alice's age. One of the men was of slim build with short black hair, blue eyes, and was dressed in an immaculate blue three-piece suit.

The other man was much older, broader, and taller with greying chestnut hair and a more chiseled face with stubble and a painter's mustache, and a very high and mighty personality oozing off of him. The boy looked to be a younger version of the man, but with a gentler bearing.

"-will have the robes sent straight to your son's home as soon as they're ready, Director, and-oh!" The first man said, continuing the conversation they were having in the back room. Like Missy, the man was dressed as the opposite gender to what they were born as. "Sylas, I wasn't expecting you till later this week."

"Sylas Zax." Said the second man in a gravelly voice, stepping up to the professor and looking down at him despite being near the same height. "You're Clarinda's boy, right?" Instead of the friendly way that this question usually was delivered, this seemed to be more accusatory.

"Yes, Director Murdoch, that's right." Zax stood up straight with his hands clasped behind his back and smiled, but Alice could tell it was forced and it definitely didn't meet his eyes. "She's actually introduced me to you a total of twenty times now, but I know you try very hard to forget I exist. Shopping for a new wardrobe?"

"For my grandson, Nathaniel." Murdoch said, gesturing for his grandson to join him. As he came up next to him, his grandfather clapped a hand on his shoulder causing the boy to wince from the force of it. "Nathaniel, this is Professor Zax, he'll be teaching you…" Murdoch squinted at the Zax in an unfriendly way, "something, at Ilvermorny."

"The word your grandfather is looking for, Nathaniel, is transfiguration." Zax said not taking breaking eye contact with the older man and Alice was impressed that he was keeping up his civil tone with the older Murdoch, who clearly didn't like him. Alice turned her attention to the boy, who was looking very uncomfortable with the whole situation, so Alice tried to alleviate his stress with a smile and wave.

He returned the smile and wave, but this also drew his grandfather's gaze to Alice and her family, and she was suddenly overwhelmed with the feeling that she had just been scanned and the wizard did not like what he saw. "Was it necessary to bring the No-Maj's?" Murdoch asked, his tone just shy of a demanding growl.

"I would sincerely hope that the Director of the A.B.I. would know that an adult male escorting an underage girl without her parent or guardian is highly illegal and suspect." Zax stated, his tone painfully civil. "You wouldn't want me to lose my job or be arrested just to protect _someone's_ delicate sensibilities, would you?"

When it looked like the Director was about to explode, Missy quickly stepped in-between the two men. "Director Murdoch, as my dear brother Mister has undoubtedly told you; we will have your grandson's school robes ready and sent to your son and daughter-in-law's residence before term." She said in a rushed and calming tone. "Mister will add it to your account with us." She then smoothly gestured to the door. "Have a pleasant day."

Murdoch glared at Zax, who still had that painfully forced smile on his face, before turning to the door and starting to go, guiding his grandson by the shoulder. "It was nice meeting you, Nathaniel, and always an… experience to see you director." Zax said as the grandfather and grandson were going out the door, muttering to himself as the door was closing, "Although whether or not that experience was good is anyone's guess."

"Do you absolutely have to upset him in my shop, Sylas darling?" Asked Missy with a pout.

" _Our_ shop, sister mine." Commented Mister as he took out his wand and waved it at the old-fashioned cash register, causing its keys to clack, go ding, and to spit out a receipt that he stuck to the receipt spindle.

"That's what I said, brother dear." Missy replied with a dismissive wave of her hand in his direction.

"My existence upsets him, Missy, and there is little I can do about that." Zax told her with a roll of his eyes as he went over to a rack of different colored vests at the male side of the shop.

"I'm sorry, who was that and why does your existence offend him?" Asked Mrs. Starling and Alice could only guess what her mom was seeing with those therapist eyes of hers.

"That was our venerably and disagreeable Alexander Murdoch, Director of the Auror Bureau of Investigation," At the confused look on their faces, Missy clarified, "our crime fighters, darlings. The reason for his feelings for dear Sylas, however, are complicated and frankly ridiculous."

"Some old full-blooded wizards and witches still don't trust No-Maj's." Mister clarified as he came up to stand beside his sister, arms crossed over his chest. "to these people, wizards or witches that fall in love with No-Maj's are seen as traitors and their kids-"

"Are seen with far less favor." Zax finished for Mister turning around to face the two proprietors, clearly not wanting to talk about this. "As illuminating as this is for new friends, this is not what we came here for." Zax Looked back to the Starlings, "Starlings, may I properly introduce Missy and Mister Montague, proprietress and proprietor of this excellent establishment. Missy, Mister, this is Alice Starling, her mother Lois, her little brother Milly, and her little sister Jilly."

"A delight to meet you, darlings!" Missy gushed. "You've clearly come to the right place to get this lovely young lady dressed to impress for her Ilvermorny debut!" Missy said dramatically as she strutted up to Alice and Mrs. Starling, looped her arms with theirs, and guided them towards a door on her side of the shop.

"Let's take you and mommy to the back room, get you measured, and we can talk skirts, pants, and other such things." Mrs. Starling looked at her toddlers, but Missy quickly reassured her, saying in a blithe manner, "Sylas and Mister can watch the little darlings. Sylas has oodles of cousins and Mister has the mind of a child so they're in good hands."

"I'm not the one who slept with a stuffed hippogriff till I was fifteen!" Mister snarked back as they went through the door, Zax already having the twin's full attention as he animated their toys and made them dance and move around.

Missy childishly blew a raspberry at her brother before shutting the door and getting to work. She had Alice stand on a stool and took out a tape measure ribbon (that moved on its own to Alice's amazement) and quickly got her measurements. Next, she summoned a set of blue and cranberry red blazer-like robes that had a matching skirt and tie, a black waistcoat, and white button up shirt underneath the robes that looked close to her size and sent her off to try them on in one of the dressing rooms that were around the room.

Once she had the robes on, she walked back out and got back onto the stool when Missy told her to. Missy circled her and tapped her wand gently at seemingly random places on the uniform and Alice marveled at the feeling of the robes shrinking or expanding to fit her perfectly.

"That should do it, you look fabulous darling!" Missy told Alice as they walked out of the back room after she had redressed back in her old clothes. "I'll make up ten uniforms for you, half navy and cranberry and half the reverse color scheme, but I need to know if you prefer skirts or pants."

"It depends on the day, but I like both." Alice told her as they reunited with the professor and the twins, who were enraptured by the professor making the store mannequins dance.

"An excellent and prudent choice. I'll make sure you have an equal amount of both." Missy said as she manually put in the amount of the uniforms behind the counter. "That will come out to seventy-five dragots even, darlings."

"That seems cheap… I think." Mrs. Starling commented as she withdrew the money pouch, floundering with how much to take out till Zax came up and took out the necessary amount and gave it to Missy. "I don't even want to think about how we would pay for it if we didn't have the Maleficarum foundation's help."

"Yes, Sylas is very proud-" Missy began to say before Zax cut in quickly.

"To be a patron of this wonderful establishment! Is that the time? Must be off now, lots to buy!" He said hastily, after checking his pocket watch, pulling out a piece of paper and putting it on the counter before ushering out the Starlings. "That's their address, send the robes there. Wonderful to see you both, bye!"

Alice was going to ask what that was all about, and she could see that question was on the tip of her mother's tongue as well, but he steered them to the next shop saying that it was best to get to them fast before the afternoon rush started and the Avenue was mobbed by other shoppers.

So, on they went getting Alice's supplies: first they stopped at a store named 'The Medicine Woman's Hut' where they got her cauldron and other potion making things, then they stopped at a store that was named 'Madame Astra's Imperium of the beyond', where they got her telescope, and last but not least (especially to Alice), they stopped by a book store named 'The Baron's Study' and got Alice her textbooks, along with a few other purchases for Alice's personal use and a few books with titles like 'No-Maj-born integration' and 'So you're child has magic' for Mrs. Starling.

"I don't know about y'all," Zax said as they were leaving the bookstore, shrinking the book bags down and placing them inside his hat like he did all the other supplies, "but I could go for a bite to eat."

"Me too!" Shouted the twins happily, hands still being held by their mother's. Alice looked at her watch, tearing her eyes away from her copy of the 'Tales of Beedle the Bard' that she had just bought and saw that it was getting close to lunch time.

"I am definitely in need of food and a sit down." Mrs. Starling said emphatically. She was glad the professor had that hat of his, because if she had to coral the twins, walk all day, and carry all those supplies? She might kill someone.

"Good, because there's a place that newcomers to the Avenue have to visit when they come here." He told them as he led them down a side street. Down the street was a beautiful corner café with outdoor seating and a stylized alligator painted above the door.

"'Mama Gator's Café and Bistro'!" Zax announced just as a large and elderly witch with dark skin walked out with a chalkboard with writing on it, making his smile broaden and shout out, "And there she is! The enchanting owner herself!"

The woman looked around, saw Zax, and smiled wide. "Well, my goodness! Sylas Zax!" She shouted in glee, her voice rich and welcoming, as they walked up, throwing her arms around Zax when he was close enough to her. "How you been baby? How's yo mama?"

She was dressed in a chef's coat, had her silver dreadlocks wrapped in a green tribal head scarf, and she stood three feet shorter than the professor, making him have to stoop when he happily returned the hug. She reminded her of her grandma, with an aura of homey-ness that seemed to come naturally to her.

"I'm doing good and so is she!" Zax told her, giving her a good squeeze before letting go. "She's in on assignment in Argentina right now, so I can't be too sure about that, but you know mom. She loves to travel."

"I bet yo poor daddy misses her somethin' fierce." Said the woman in a consoling manner. She noticed the Starlings then. "Sylas Zax, where are yo manner's?" She scolded, reaching up to smacking him in the shoulder, making him wince and mouth 'ow'. "Introduce me to yo new friends!"

Massaging the spot where he was hit, he stepped forward. "Mama, may I introduce Lois Starling and her children, Milly, Jilly, and Alice. Starlings, may I introduce," He did an over the top introducing pose toward the old woman. "the incomparable Chef Mammasia Gator!"

"Call me Mama, honey, everyone does." She said ignoring the professor's silliness with a fond eye roll as she shakes Mrs. Starlings hand before bending down to look at the twins. "Well ain't y'all the cutest thing! I could eat y'all up!" the twins preened at the attention and Alice smiled at them.

Mama's old eye's, which were an unusual shade of yellowish green, turned up to Alice and she could almost feel like those eyes were looking into her soul. As soon as the feeling came over her, it was gone as Mama gave her a gentle smile and broke the eye contact to look at all of them. "I'm bettin' y'all didn't just come here to say howdy-a-do to ol' Mama, so come on in and I'll getcha all somethin' to eat."

They followed Mama inside and Alice immediately felt right at home. The wallpaper on the walls depicted a bayou at night with fireflies and were dotted with pictures of various people, but most had Mama in them. There were tables of varying sizes with comfy chairs and booths lining the walls, the booths and chairs upholstered in a forest green color. Near the front of the store was the cash register station that doubled as a display case for several delicious baked goods.

Despite it almost being lunch time, the restaurant only had a few people eating. "Y'all choose a good time to come, the lunch rush will be here any minute now." Mama said, seeming to read her mind.

Suddenly something black swooped down and landed on Zax's shoulder, causing the Starlings to gasp and Mama and Zax to laugh. "So that's where you've been! Naughty kitty." Zax fondly said to the creature in a loving tone. At first glance, Alice thought it was a black cat, but realized it wasn't just a cat, because it had big black bird wings, a fan shaped plume of feathers at the tip of its tail and had a bluish-green sheen to its fur and feathers.

Mama chuckled, "That little sweetheart of yours is smart, wouldn't leave after delivering that letter you sent me."

"Is it a griffin?" Alice asked excitedly, almost vibrating with excitement. Griffins were her second favorite mythical creature (the first being dragons).

"Very good, Ms. Starling! She's a type of griffin, yes." He told them as the winged cat rubbed her head into his check. "She's a miniature feline headed griffin, what is more commonly known as a Craven, and her name is Hecate. She's my familiar."

"So that's a thing? Witches and black cats?" Asked Mrs. Starling astonished.

"Course they are honey!" Mama told them as she resumed leading them to a table in the back. "Though we don't limit to just cats. Familiars were a large part of Native American spells and when the folks from the old country came over, who mostly saw familiars as pets and ways to deliver letters, learned those practices and incorporated them into our magic." She led them to a table in the back near the kitchen doors where they all sat down, Zax pulling out Mama's chair for her and helping her sit down.

Once seated, Mama snapped her fingers, and napkin wrapped cutlery, plates, menus, and a basket of rolls and biscuits appeared, making the Starlings gasp in wonder and Zax mutter sardonically to Hecate as he conjured a hat rack for his hat, "And people think I'm dramatic." Earning him a half-hearted smack upside the head.

"How did you do that?" Asked Alice excitedly, eyes twinkling with wonder. "I thought you needed a wand to do magic."

"I'm older than dirt sugah. I got the experience to not need a wand to do things like that." Mama told her jovially with a chuckle. "Now y'all pick whatever ya want, lunch is on the house."

"Oh, in that case I'll have-" Zax started to say, opening his menu excitedly, before Mama burst his bubble.

"Newcomers only Sylas. _You_ still got ta pay." She clarified evenly at him, making the man deflate slightly. "Joody." Mama called and with the tiniest pop a small humanoid creature, about three and a half feet, had large tennis-ball-like blue eyes, a pencil-like nose and long, bat-like pointed ears and was dressed in a green waitress uniform.

"What can I get y'all?" The creature, evidentially named Joody, asked in a squeaky, feminine, and southern accented voice eyes bright and a pleasant helpful smile on its face, hands poised to take down their order with a pen and notepad.

"Give your orders to Joody y'all, she'll get it for ya." Mama told them and then told Joody, "I'll have some sweet tea."

"I-I'll have the same." Mrs. Starling squeaked out, trying hard not to stare at the small humanoid figure. Where Mrs. Starling was weirded out, Alice was fascinated. First wizards with flying cars, then goblin bankers, mini griffin house cats, and now whatever this was. What was next, dragons? (She _really_ hoped it was dragons)

"Lemonade, please." Alice told Judy, the twins saying, 'Me too, please!', but before Zax could put in his order, Alice asked, "I hope I'm not being rude when I ask, but what exactly are you?"

"You're not being rude, hun. I'm a house elf." Joody answered with a pleasant smile.

"House elves are beings that enjoy and happily work for wizards and witches." Zax explained. "They only ask for a roof over their heads. I'll have my usual and a saucer of milk, Joody, thank you." He told the patient house elf, who nodded and then disappeared with another pop.

"This must be all pretty strange for someone who thought this world of ours wasn't real." Mama said to Mrs. Starling with a warm smile. "I've been a witch my whole life, but I've seen a few No-Maj parents come through my doors since the repeal and they had the same look on their face that you do, honey."

"It's been…an experience." Mrs. Starling said as Joody came out of the kitchen, levitating their drinks out and setting them in front of them. "And I won't lie, I am a little weirded out about magic and mythical creatures being real." Mrs. Starling paused as Hecate flapped her wings as she hopped off Zax's shoulder to enjoy her cream on the ground. "But the community has been very welcoming…well, with one exception."

"Who was it?" Mama asked, sounding very annoyed. "I won't abide someone being ornery with newcomers and especially if it was because y'all are No-Maj's."

"Director Murdoch." Zax told her, annoyed at the memory of seeing the older man. "He was at Missy and Mister's shop, getting his grandson's school uniforms."

"Alexander." Mama muttered with a shake of her head. "Man needs to learn to let things go. The repeal was forty-five years ago and all that nonsense even longer ago."

"Why was the law put into place in the first place?" Asked Mrs. Starling leaning in, her curiosity peaked. Alice wanted to know the answer to that question too but wasn't sure when she could bring it up. "Why do wizards distrust non magical people so much?"

"Ya didn't tell them yet?" Mama asked Zax in disbelief.

"I thought it better that they hear it from you, Mama." Zax told the old witch earnestly. "You know more about the law and the Scourers than I do. Plus…you know how hard is for me to talk about this."

"Scourers?" Asked Mrs. Starling in confusion.

The witch and wizard seemed to have a silent conversation for a moment before Mama sighed and told them, "You better order yo food now y'all, cause it's a long and nasty story."

* * *

AN: What do you guy's think of my current cast of characters? Did I surprise you with one of the Patil twins showing up?

If I've used improper pronouns for my Trans characters, I would like to apologize and ask that you enlighten me in a PM or a review.

Until next time, I bid you adieu!


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